Identifying the best suitable application to open a file shared via a link

ABSTRACT

The techniques enable a device to identify a best suitable application to open a resource such as a file. The file can be shared via a link or can be attached to a communication. The link comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) or is in some way associated with an underlying URL. The URL includes a pattern, or a portion that identifies a domain (e.g., a hostname) and/or a portion that identifies a type of file that is to be accessed and opened. Upon activation of the link, the device analyzes the URL to determine the pattern. The device then obtains, from a service associated with the URL, a ranked list of applications that are authorized to open the file. Moreover, the device performs, at run-time, a negotiation with the service to determine which application is best suited to open the file.

BACKGROUND

As storage and networking resources continue to develop, it has becomeeasier for users to share content with one another. For example, ratherthan a first user attaching a file to a message and sending the messageto a second user over the network, the first user can have a link to thefile generated and sent to the second user. The link provides access tothe file via a uniform resource locator (URL) which is used to locatethe file on a network (e.g., the Internet or World Wide Web). This canhelp conserve networking, processing, and/or storage resources.

Currently, when a device determines that a link has been activated(e.g., a user clicks on the link contained in a message), the device isconfigured to call on an application to open the file, so a user canview and/or interact with contents of the file. The application calledupon can be a web application accessible via a browser installed on thedevice, or the application can be a separate client applicationinstalled on the device. For instance, upon installation, a clientapplication registers with an operating system of the device so that theclient application can be invoked when an analysis of an underlying URLassociated with a link reveals a given domain (e.g., a hostname). Statedanother way, the client application declares in advance, to theoperating system, a desire to open files to be accessed via the givendomain. In some specific examples, a first application developed byYOUTUBE can register to open files from the “www.youtube.com” domain. Asecond application developed by GOOGLE can register to open files fromthe “docs.google.com” domain. A third application developed by MICROSOFTcan register to open files from the “1drv.ms” domain. A fourthapplication developed by BANK OF AMERICA can register to open files fromthe “www.bofa.com” domain.

As the number of client applications (apps) available for consumers todownload to their personal devices continues to increase, this processcreates situations where multiple applications are registered to open afile. For example, an entity may operate a network storage service(e.g., cloud storage service) configured to store and/or backup files ina user account. The entity may also develop and offer for installationmultiple different client applications that are capable of opening andinteracting with the files stored in the network storage service (e.g.,the MICROSOFT WORD app and the MICROSOFT ONEDRIVE app, etc.). Eachapplication registered to open files may have different featuresavailable and/or enabled, which allows a device and/or a user todisplay, manipulate, edit, communicate, and/or otherwise processcontents of the file (e.g., file data) in different ways.

In such situations where there are multiple applications registered toopen a file, conventional techniques obtain a prioritized list ofapplications that are authorized to open files accessed via a givendomain. The prioritized list ranks the authorized client applicationsbased on priority and may be referred to herein as a ranked list ofapplications. This ranked list, however, is static in nature. This meansthat the application that has the highest ranking on the list and thatis available to the operating system of the device is always called uponto open a file accessed via the given domain. Stated another way, theoperating system fully respects the ranked order of the list and doesnot implement any functionality to deviate from the ranked order.

These conventional techniques that use the ranked list have shortcomingsin that the determined priority of applications fails to considercapabilities of the applications available to the device to open a file.The capabilities can be associated with available and/or enabledfeatures for individual applications. For example, the ranked list doesnot take into account application versions (e.g., an applicationidentifier on the ranked list identifies the application but does notidentify a version of the application). Accordingly, an application mayobtain the highest ranked position on the list because of a recentlyreleased feature that enables a user to interact with the contents of afile in a new way, thereby providing an improved and optimal experiencefor the user. However, the user may not have installed the most recentupdate (i.e., version) to the application. Rather, the device may beexecuting an older version of the application that does not contain therecently released feature. In this particular scenario, an alternativeapplication that has a lower ranked position on the list, but that mayhave been updated to the most recent version by the user, may beavailable for use on the device. This alternative application mayinclude the recently released feature. Consequently, it would be abetter experience for the user to have the file opened using the lowerranked application rather than the higher ranked application. However,the operating system's strict adherence to the static order of theranked list does not allow this, and therefore, a user experience inrelation to opening a file and interacting with contents of the file canbe frustrated.

SUMMARY

The techniques disclosed herein enable a device to identify a best, ormost, suitable application to open a resource such as a file. In variousembodiments, access to a resource is shared via a link. The link can beprovided in the body of a communication, or as an attachment to acommunication. The link comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) or isin some way associated with an underlying URL (e.g., the link may be ahyperlink). The URL generated in accordance with the techniquesdescribed herein includes a pattern. The pattern can include a portionthat identifies a domain (e.g., a hostname), as well as a portion thatidentifies a type of resource (e.g., file) that is to be accessed andopened. In some instances, as further described herein, the URL can alsoinclude a portion that identifies application capabilities (e.g.,features) that are required and/or preferred in order to provide thebest possible user experience with relation to opening and/orinteracting with the contents of the resource.

Upon activation of the link (e.g., a user touches or clicks the link ona display), the device analyzes the URL to determine the pattern (e.g.,the domain and/or the type of file to be accessed and opened). Forexample, in the URL “https://1drv.ms/w/*”, the domain comprises“1drv.ms”, the “w” is known to indicate that a WORD file is the type offile to be opened, and the “*” is a placeholder that further defines apath to a specific file and/or capabilities associated with the specificfile (e.g., “*” represents any series of characters useable to identifyand locate a specific file). In another example, in the URL“https://1drv.ms/x/*”, the domain comprises “1drv.ms”, the “x” is knownto indicate that an EXCEL file is the type of file to be opened, andagain the “*” is a placeholder that further defines a path to a specificfile and/or capabilities associated with the specific file. Accordingly,non-limiting examples of files to be accessed and opened can include adocument, a spreadsheet, a slide deck, a video clip, an audio clip, adrawing, an image, a photograph, a web page, and so forth. These exampleresources can vary in types (e.g., file formats). In accordance withexamples described herein, a file is used as an example resource.

An entity associated with the URL or domain can provide a service thatstores a file on a network. Based on a determination of the domain, thedevice is configured to obtain, from the service, a ranked list ofapplications that are authorized to open the file and/or other files(e.g., based on the type of file). One reason the ranked list ofauthorized applications is retrieved by the device is to ensure thatmalicious software installed on the device does not gain access toconfidential or secured files. In other words, the service is able toimplement an element of security and/or control related to whichapplications can open the file. After or in association with obtainingthe ranked list of applications that are authorized to open the file,the device performs a negotiation with the service to determine whichapplication on the ranked list is best suited to open the file. Thisnegotiation provides a mechanism to override and/or alter the priorityof the applications included in the ranked list, as described above, inorder to provide a user with an improved and optimal experience. Forinstance, if it is determined that the highest ranked application on thelist is incapable of providing a particular feature that enables a userto interact with some of the contents of the file, and/or if it isdetermined that an alternative application on the list is capable ofproviding the particular feature, then the highest ranked applicationmay not be called upon to open the file.

The negotiation includes the provision of information about the file.The information can include capabilities associated with opening thefile (e.g., displaying or outputting file data for consumption,arranging file data, etc.), capabilities associated with interactingwith contents of the file (e.g., manipulating file data, editing filedata, etc.), and/or capabilities associated with processing the contentsof the file. In various examples, an application has a capability if theapplication is configured to execute a particular feature that enablescontents of the file to be displayed in a particular way and/or thatenables a user to interact with the contents of the file in a particularway. In other words, the particular feature is available to theapplication or enabled in the application.

Using the capabilities, a component (e.g., a client application, theoperating system, a helper application, etc.) on the device candetermine which application, that is available to the device and that ison the list, is best suited to open the file. In one example, if a firstclient application called upon by the operating system determines thatit is not the application best suited to open the application, the firstclient application can be configured to invoke or launch a secondapplication, such as the web application, which is or is likely to bebest suited to open the file. The first client application may know thatit cannot provide the best experience because, in association withprovision of the capabilities, the service can inform the first clientapplication whether the capability is supported in an accessible webapplication (e.g., the mobile web application for a mobileplatform/experience, the desktop web application for a desktopplatform/experience, etc.). If the first client application cannotprovide a capability and the web application also does not support thecapability, the first client application may determine that it is bestsuited to open the application. Alternatively, the first clientapplication may know that it cannot provide the best experience becauseit may be aware of the capabilities of other applications. In anotherexample, the operating system or a separate helper application can beconfigured to coordinate capabilities of available applications, storethe capabilities in a registry, compare the capabilities of theavailable applications to the received capabilities associated with afile, and determine which application available to the device is bestsuited to open the file (e.g., which application possesses capabilitiesthat best match or satisfy the capabilities received from the service).

In various examples, the capabilities can be divided intosub-categories, such as “required” capabilities that are needed to openthe file and to enable interaction with the contents of the file, and“optional” capabilities that are preferred to optimize the userexperience but are not necessarily needed to open the file and to enableinteraction with the contents of the file. The device obtains theinformation about the file from the service associated with the domain.Subsequently, it can be determined whether a first identifiedapplication (e.g., the highest ranked application on the list that isavailable to the device) possesses the capabilities to provide a bestpossible experience for the user, as it relates to opening a file andenabling interaction with the contents of the file. If the firstidentified application is unable to provide the best possible experiencefor the user, the techniques identify a next application (e.g., thesecond highest ranked application on the list that is available to thedevice) and determine whether it possesses the capabilities to provide abest possible experience for the user.

The capabilities can be generated based on the contents of the file. Thecapabilities can be generated by the service based on an examination orevaluation of the contents of the file. For example, the capabilitiescan be generated by the service as the contents of the file aregenerated and/or when the file is stored in a cloud storage serviceaccount that allows a user to store files of various types in one place,to access the files from any device able to connect to the Internet, andto share the files with other users via links. As described above, thecapabilities can be related to a way in which a user consumes thecontents of the file and/or is able to interact with the contents of thefile. For example, a capability may be associated with a “comment only”feature that protects a user's original content in a file and onlyenables another user (e.g., a reviewer) to comment on the originalcontent. In another example, a capability may be associated with a“voice comments” feature that enables data representing embedded voicecomments to be displayed, selected, and upon selection, played-back to auser as an audible comment. In yet another example, a capability may beassociated with a “tracked changes” feature that enables a viewer to seedistinctions between original content and edited content (e.g.,marked-up content). The capabilities can additionally or alternativelybe generated based on features of a URL. For example, a portion of a URLcan represent a capability, or instruction, of an application tonavigate to a specific part of the file (e.g., a specific paragraph, aspecific comment, a specific drawing, etc.). In another example, aportion of a URL can represent a capability associated with userpermission to access the file, and thus, the capability is associatedwith a new authentication mechanism that may or may not be supported byan application.

The categorization of a capability as a required or an optionalcapability can also be based on the contents of the file. For instance,if a file contains voice comments, the default action for the servicemay be to categorize a “voice comments” feature as an optionalcapability. However, if a first user specifically mentions a name of asecond user in a voice comment, then the service may categorize a “voicecomments” feature as a required capability (e.g., when a link is sent toa device of the second user).

In some examples, the service considers or follows user input whengenerating and/or categorizing capabilities for a file. For example, auser can provide input indicating that the “voice comments” feature is arequired capability for any application that opens the file. The inputcan be provided when the link is generated for sharing purposes. Statedanother way, the user can define required and/or optional capabilitieswhen sharing the file. In various examples, the capabilities defined bythe user can generally be applied each time the file is shared via alink. In alternative examples, the capabilities defined by the user canbe applied on a per-share or per-link basis based on a particular userto which the link and file are being sent.

In further embodiments, a device can implement its own scan orevaluation of a file that is attached to a communication in order todetermine a particular type of the file and/or capabilities associatedwith opening the file and interacting with the file (e.g., features usedto compose the contents of the file). Once the capabilities are known,the device can compare the capabilities associated with the file tocapabilities possessed by each of multiple applications available to thedevice to open the file. The device can identify the application bestsuited to open the file based on a highest number of capability matches(e.g., the identified application possesses the most capabilities whichare associated with the file). In the event of a tie (e.g., two or moreapplications can support all the capabilities associated with the file),the device can select the application that is the highest ranked on thelist.

Compared to the conventional techniques that strictly follow an orderedranking without regard to application capabilities that enable a user toview and/or interact with the contents of the file differently, thetechniques described herein consider such application capabilities todetermine an application that is best suited to open the file. Thisprovides greater flexibility on a per-link and/or a per file basis whichthereby allows a user to view and/or interact with contents of a file inan improved and optimal manner.

In further examples, the techniques are configured to cache details of anegotiation and/or how a file was opened, so that the negotiation doesnot have to be repeated with the service when the link is subsequentlyactivated (e.g., the user accesses an old message and clicks on the linkagain). The caching reduces the time required to load the contents ofthe file and limits further network communications, thereby conservingresources. Moreover, the details can be used to intelligently determineif a previous outcome, as to which application is best suited to openthe file, needs to be modified or overridden. For instance, the cachedinformation can capture reasons why an application was determined to bethe best suitable application to open the file and/or why an applicationwas not determined to be the best suitable application to open the file.In a specific example, information stored in the cache may indicate thatwhen the link was first activated, a first application lacked aparticular capability to open a file due to the fact a user had notinstalled the most recent update (e.g., version) to the firstapplication, where the most recent update includes the particularcapability. Accordingly, the information stored in the cache mayindicate that when the link was first activated, an alternativeapplication that was ranked lower on the list than the firstapplication, but that had the particular capability was determined to bethe best suitable application to open the file. In an event the userinstalls the most recent update to the first application after the userfirst activates the link but before the user subsequently activates thelink, the information in the cache can be accessed to determine that nowthe first application has the particular capability which it previouslydid not have. Consequently, the first application, rather than thealternative application, can be used to open the file based on asubsequent activation of the link.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The term“techniques,” for instance, may refer to system(s), method(s),computer-readable instructions, module(s), algorithms, hardware logic,and/or operation(s) as permitted by the context described above andthroughout the document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The Detailed Description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Thesame reference numbers in different figures indicate similar oridentical items. References made to individual items of a plurality ofitems can use a reference number with a letter of a sequence of lettersto refer to each individual item. Generic references to the items mayuse the specific reference number without the sequence of letters.

FIG. 1 includes a diagram that illustrates an example environment inwhich a link to a file is shared and a negotiation is implemented toidentify a best suitable application to open the file.

FIG. 2A includes a diagram that further illustrates the negotiationimplemented to identify the best suitable application to open the file.

FIG. 2B includes a diagram that illustrates an alternative manner inwhich the best suitable application to open the file can be identified.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example flowchart that illustrates operationsdirected to determining an application that is best suited to open afile of a particular type, the file made accessible via a URL.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example flowchart that illustrates operationsdirected to obtaining a ranked list of applications authorized to open afile and capabilities associated with contents of the file which areuseable to determine an application that is best suited to open a fileof a particular type, the file made accessible via a URL.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example flowchart that illustrates operationsdirected to generating a URL and capabilities associated with contentsof a file and providing a ranked list of applications authorized to openthe file and the capabilities to a requesting device, so they can beused to determine an application that is best suited to open the file.

FIG. 6 includes a diagram that illustrates an example environment inwhich a file is shared as an attachment and a best suitable applicationto open the file is determined.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example flowchart that illustrates operationsdirected to determining a best suitable application to open a file thatis attached to a communication.

FIG. 8 is a computer architecture diagram illustrating an illustrativecomputer hardware and software architecture for a computing deviceand/or system capable of implementing aspects of the techniques andtechnologies presented herein.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a distributed computing environmentcapable of implementing aspects of the techniques and technologiespresented herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The techniques disclosed herein enable a device to identify a best, ormost, suitable application to open a resource such as a file that isshared via a link. The link comprises a uniform resource locator (URL)or is in some way associated with an underlying URL. The URL generatedin accordance with the techniques described herein includes a pattern.The pattern can comprise a portion that identifies a domain (e.g., ahostname), as well as a portion that identifies a type of file that isto be accessed and opened. Upon activation of the link, the deviceanalyzes the URL to determine the domain and the type of file to beaccessed and opened. The device then obtains, from a service associatedwith the domain, a ranked list of applications that are authorized toopen the file. Moreover, the device performs, at run-time, a negotiationwith the service to determine which application on the ranked list isbest suited to open the file. This negotiation provides a mechanism tooverride and/or alter the priority of the applications included in theranked list in order to provide a user with an improved and optimalexperience.

It should be appreciated that the subject matter described herein may beimplemented as a computer-controlled apparatus, a computer process, acomputing system, or as an article of manufacture such as acomputer-readable storage medium. Among many other benefits, thetechniques described herein improve efficiencies with respect to a widerange of computing resources. For instance, human interactions with adevice may be improved as the techniques disclosed herein are configuredto identify an application that provides a best possible userexperience. The techniques disclosed herein can also conservenetworking, storage, and/or processing resources based on the manner inwhich a file can be shared (e.g., via a link) and the way in whichinformation can be cached to avoid further negotiation (e.g., when alink is subsequently activated at a later time). Other technical effectsother than those mentioned herein can also be realized fromimplementations of the technologies disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 includes a diagram 100 that illustrates an example environment inwhich a link to a file is shared and a negotiation is implemented toidentify a best suitable application to open the file. The techniquesdescribed herein can be implemented by various systems and/or computingdevices, over various networks, as further described herein with respectto FIGS. 8 and 9. In FIG. 1, a sending device 102 is configured totransmit a communication 104 with a link to a file to a receiving device106, via one or more network(s) 108. In various examples, the sendingdevice 102 may be using a client application 110 to compose, edit,and/or access a file 112. The file 112 may be stored locally at thesending device 102, and also stored (e.g., backed-up) by a system 114(e.g., a cloud storage system). The file being accessed via a URL, asdescribed herein, comprises the copy of the file 112 stored by thesystem 114.

The system 114 can comprise devices and/or components operated by aservice provider 116. Based on instruction from a user of the sendingdevice 102, the sending device 102 and the service provider 116 caninteract with each other to generate a link to the file 112 beingstored. This enables the user of the sending device 102 to generate thecommunication 104 with the link to the file, which is transmitted (e.g.,shared) with the receiving device 106. The communication 104 can be amessage such as a text message, an electronic mail message, a socialmedia message, a message submitted to a comment section of a videoconference, and so forth. The link to the file can be embedded in a bodyof the communication and/or the link to the file can be included in anattachment to the communication (e.g., a selectable object).

The link can comprise a URL or in some way be associated with a URL(e.g., a hyperlink). The URL comprises a pattern that includes a first aportion that identifies a domain (e.g., a hostname) and/or a secondportion that identifies a type of file that is to be accessed and openedat the receiving device 106. The domain identifies the service provider116. As shown, a first example URL in the communication 104 includes afirst portion that identifies the domain “www.example.com” and a secondportion that identifies the type of file “typeA”. A second example URLin the communication 104 includes a first portion that identifies thedomain “1drv.ms” and a second portion that identifies the type of file“x”. The URL can also include other portions that identify a pathnameand/or a filename that is used to access the file, as well as a protocol(e.g., “https”).

After the receiving device 106 receives the communication 104, the URLis activated or is in some way invoked to access the file 112 stored bythe service provider 116. For instance, a user of the receiving device106 may employ a messaging application to open the communication 104 andtouch or click on the link to the file. Upon activation of the URL, anoperating system 120 of the receiving device 106 is tasked withdetermining a way in which the file 112, accessible via the URL, is tobe opened. More specifically, the operating system 120 is configured tohelp determine which application, from multiple different applicationsavailable to the receiving device 106, is to open and/or display thecontents of the file 112.

The multiple different applications may include client applications122(1) through 122(N) (where N is a positive integer number such as 1,2, 3, 4, 5, and so forth). Client applications 122(1) through 122(N) areavailable to open the file because they have individually registeredwith the operating system 120 to open files of the particular type thatare to be accessed via a given domain (e.g., “www.example.com”,“1drv.ms”, etc.). Stated another way, the client applications 122(1)through 122(N) are registered to be matched with the pattern of the URL.Accordingly, the operating system 120 is configured to analyze (e.g.,parse) the URL to identify the domain and the type of file to beaccessed in order to determine which applications are available to thereceiving device 106 to open the file. The multiple differentapplications available to open the file 112 may also include a webapplication 124 that is made available via a browser 126 of thereceiving device 106 over the network(s) 108. The web application 124may be hosted and/or operated by the service provider 116.

To help determine which application is to open the file via the URL, theoperating system 120 is configured obtain, from a service associatedwith the domain, a ranked list of applications 128 that are authorizedto open the file. The operating system 120 and/or individual clientapplications 122(1) through 122(N) are also configured to implement anegotiation 130, at run-time, to identify the best suitable applicationto open the file. The negotiation 130 is implemented to determine whichavailable application possesses capabilities that satisfy capabilities132 for contents of the file (e.g., the application possesses all thecapabilities 132). In some examples, the negotiation 130 determineswhich available application possesses capabilities that best satisfy thecapabilities 132 for the contents of the file (e.g., the applicationdoes not possess all the capabilities 132 but possesses morecapabilities compared to other available applications).

As described above, although client applications 122(1) through 122(N)and web application 124 are configured to open the same type of file,the capabilities related to how the contents of the file are displayedand/or interacted with can vary from one application to the next.Consequently, client application 122(1) includes a first set ofcapabilities 134(1), client application 122(2) includes a second set ofcapabilities 134(2), client application 122(N) includes an Nth set ofcapabilities 134(N), and web application 124 includes web set ofcapabilities, which are implemented by the service provider 116 and canbe made known to the operating system 120 and/or the client applications122(1) through 122(N).

The negotiation 130 provides a mechanism to override and/or alter thepriority of the applications included in the ranked list of applications128, in order to provide a user with an improved and optimal experience.For instance, if the highest ranked application on the list is incapableof providing (e.g., supporting) a particular feature that enables a userto interact with some of the contents of the file, then the highestranked application may not be called upon to open the file.

The capabilities 132 can be divided into sub-categories, such as“required” capabilities that are needed to open the file 112 and toenable interaction with the contents of the file 112, and “optional”capabilities that are preferred to optimize the user experience but arenot necessarily needed to open the file 112 and to enable interactionwith the contents of the file 112. The receiving device 106 obtains thecapabilities 132 for the contents of the file from the service provider116.

The service provider 116 is configured to examine or evaluate thecontents of the file 112 to generate the capabilities 132. For example,the capabilities 132 can be generated by the service provider 116 as thecontents of the file 112 are generated and/or when the file 112 isstored in a user account. As described above, the capabilities 132 canbe related to a way in which a user consumes the contents of the file112 and/or is able to interact with the contents of the file 112. Forexample, a capability may be associated with a “comment only” featurethat protects a user's original content in a file and only enablesanother user (e.g., a reviewer) to comment on the original content. Inanother example, a capability may be associated with a “voice comments”feature that enables data representing embedded voice comments to bedisplayed, selected, and upon selection, played-back to a user as anaudible comment. In yet another example, a capability may be associatedwith a “tracked changes” feature that enables a viewer to seedistinctions between original content and edited content (e.g.,marked-up content). The capabilities can additionally or alternativelybe generated based on features of a URL. For example, a portion of a URLcan represent a capability, or instruction, of an application tonavigate to a specific part of the file (e.g., a specific paragraph, aspecific comment, a specific drawing, etc.). In another example, aportion of a URL can represent a capability associated with userpermission to access the file, and thus, the capability is associatedwith a new authentication mechanism that may or may not be supported byan application.

The categorization of a capability 132 as a required or an optionalcapability can also be based on the contents of the file. For instance,if a file contains voice comments, the default action for the servicemay be to categorize a “voice comments” feature as an optionalcapability. However, if a first user specifically mentions a name of asecond user in a voice comment, then the service may categorize a “voicecomments” feature as a required capability (e.g., when a link is sent toa device of the second user).

In some examples, the service provider 116 considers or follows userinput when generating and/or categorizing capabilities 132 for a file.For example, a user of the sending device 102 can provide inputindicating that the “voice comments” feature is a required capabilityfor any application that opens the file 112. The input can be providedwhen the link is generated for sharing purposes. Stated another way, theuser can define required and/or optional capabilities when sharing thefile. In various examples, the capabilities 132 defined by the user cangenerally be applied each time the file 112 is shared via a link. Inalternative examples, the capabilities 132 defined by the user can bespecifically applied on a per-share or per-link basis based on aparticular user (of receiving device 106) to which the link and file 112are being sent.

FIG. 2A includes a diagram 200 that further illustrates the negotiationimplemented to identify the best suitable application to open the file,as described in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a user opens a message 202on his or her device (e.g., receiving device 106) and activates a linkto a file 204. When this occurs, the operating system 120 of thereceiving device is called upon to analyze (e.g., parse) a URLassociated with the link to identify a pattern (e.g., a domain and/or atype of file). The operating system 120 uses the domain of the URL toobtain, from the service provider 116, the ranked list of applicationsthat are authorized to open the file (e.g., based on its type). Morespecifically, the operating system 120 requests 206 the ranked list ofapplications 128 be provided, and based on the request 206, the serviceprovider 116 sends 208 the ranked list of applications to the operatingsystem 120.

Upon receiving the ranked list of applications 128 from the serviceprovider 116, the operating system 120 reviews the ranked list ofapplications to identify the highest ranked application on the list thatis also available to the operating system 120 and the receiving device106. A client application is available to the operating system if it isinstalled on the device, and it is registered to open files accessed viathe domain of the URL. A web application is available to the operatingsystem via a browser installed on the device. The operating system 120then invokes 210 the highest ranked application (e.g., application 212)to implement negotiations to determine if it is the best suitableapplication to open the file 112. More specifically, application 212requests 214 the capabilities 132 for the contents of the file, andbased on the request 214, the service provider 116 sends 216 thecapabilities 132 to the application 212.

Upon receiving the capabilities 132 from the service provider 116, theapplication 212 determines 218 whether it is best suited to open thefile. That is, the application 212 can compare the capabilities 220 thatit possesses to the received capabilities 132 to determine 218 whetherit is best suited to open the file. For example, the application 212 candetermine whether the capabilities 220 it possesses satisfy thecapabilities 132 (e.g., each of the capabilities 132 is matched with oneof the capabilities 220), and if so, the application determines that itis best suited to open the file. In another example, the application 212can determine whether the capabilities 220 it possesses satisfy the“required” capabilities 132 (e.g., each of the “required” capabilities132 is matched with one of the capabilities 220), and if so, theapplication determines that it is best suited to open the file. In yetanother example, the application 212 can determine whether thecapabilities 220 it possesses best satisfy the capabilities 132, and ifso, the application determines that it is best suited to open the file.While one or more capabilities 132 may be missing from the capabilities220, the application 212 can determine that it can offer morecapabilities than other applications available to the receiving device.This determination can be made based on an awareness of otherexperiences (e.g., other capabilities) of other applications availableto the receiving device 106. For example, the service provider 116 cansend information regarding whether an individual capability is supportedby a web application. Other examples are described herein with respectto FIG. 2B.

In an event the application 212 determines that it is best suited toopen the file 112 (e.g., the application possesses all the capabilitiesor at least all the required capabilities), the application 212 opensthe file 112, as described above. However, in an event the application212 determines that it is not best suited to open the file 112 (e.g.,the application 212 is missing a capability that is provided or likelyto be provided by an alternative application), the application 212 mayinvoke or launch 222 an application 224 that is available to thereceiving device 106 and that is best suited to open the file.Alternatively, the application 212 can inform the operating system 120of the outcome of its negotiation and the operating system 120 caninvoke or launch 226 the application 224 that is available and that isbest suited to open the file.

Once an application that is best suited to open the file is determined,details (e.g., negotiation data 230) related to how an outcome wasdetermined can be stored in a cache 232, so that the negotiation doesnot have to be repeated when the link 204 is subsequently activated(e.g., the user accesses the message 202 again and clicks on the link).The caching reduces the time required to load the contents of the file112 again and limits further network communications, thereby conservingresources. Moreover, the details can be used to intelligently determineif a previous outcome, as to which application is best suited to openthe file, needs to be modified or overridden. For instance, thenegotiation data 230 can capture reasons why an application wasdetermined to be the best suitable application to open the file and/orwhy an application was not determined to be the best suitableapplication to open the file.

In a specific example, negotiation data 230 may indicate that when thelink was first activated, a first application lacked a particularcapability to open a file due to the fact a user had not installed themost recent update (e.g., version) to the first application, where themost recent update includes the particular capability. Accordingly, thenegotiation data 230 stored in the cache 232 may indicate that when thelink was first activated, an alternative application that was rankedlower on the list than the first application, but that had theparticular capability was determined to be the best suitable applicationto open the file. In an event the user installs the most recent updateto the first application after the user first activates the link butbefore the user subsequently activates the link, the negotiation data230 in the cache 232 can be accessed to determine that now the firstapplication has the particular capability which it previously did nothave. Consequently, the first application, rather than the alternativeapplication, can be used to open the file based on a subsequentactivation of the link.

Compared to the conventional techniques that strictly follow an orderedranking without regard to application capabilities that enable a user toview and/or interact with the contents of the file differently, thetechniques described herein consider application capabilities whendetermining an application that is best suited to open the file. Thisprovides greater flexibility on a per-link and/or a per file basis whichthereby allows a user to view and/or interact with contents of a file inan improved and optimal manner.

FIG. 2B includes a diagram 234 that illustrates an alternative manner inwhich the best suitable application to open the file can be identified.FIG. 2B includes elements illustrated in FIG. 2A. However, in FIG. 2B,the operating system 120, upon receiving the ranked list ofapplications, invokes 236 a helper component 238 rather than the highestranked application. The helper component 238 can be part of theoperating system 120, can be a separate application installed on thereceiving device 106, or can be part of each of the individualapplications registered and available to open the file. The helpercomponent 238 is configured to coordinate capabilities of the availableapplications registered to open the file (e.g., client applications122(1) through 122(N) and web application 124). To this end, the helpercomponent 238 includes, or in some way has access to, a registry 240that stores the capabilities of each of the available applications. Uponreceiving the capabilities 132 associated with the contents of the file,the helper component 238 compares 242 the capabilities of the availableapplications to the received capabilities and determines whichapplication available to the device is best suited to open the file(e.g., which application possesses capabilities that best match or bestsatisfy the capabilities received from the service). For example, thehelper component 238 can identify the application that has a highestnumber of capability matches. In the event of a tie (e.g., two or moreapplications can support all the capabilities associated with the file),the device can select the application that is the highest ranked on thelist. The helper component 238 can then invoke 244 the best suitedapplication 246 to open the file.

FIGS. 3-5 and 7 each contain flowcharts of methods. It should beunderstood that the operations of the methods disclosed herein are notpresented in any particular order and that performance of some or all ofthe operations in an alternative order(s) is possible and iscontemplated. The operations have been presented in the demonstratedorder for ease of description and illustration. Operations may be added,omitted, and/or performed simultaneously, without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

It also should be understood that the illustrated methods can end at anytime and need not be performed in their entireties. Some or alloperations of the methods, and/or substantially equivalent operations,can be performed by execution of computer-readable instructions includedon a computer-storage media, as defined below. The term“computer-readable instructions,” and variants thereof, as used in thedescription and claims, is used expansively herein to include routines,applications, application modules, program modules, programs,components, data structures, algorithms, and the like. Computer-readableinstructions can be implemented on various system configurations,including single-processor or multiprocessor systems, minicomputers,mainframe computers, personal computers, hand-held computing devices,microprocessor-based, programmable consumer electronics, combinationsthereof, and the like.

Thus, it should be appreciated that the logical operations describedherein are implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented acts orprogram modules running on a computing system and/or (2) asinterconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within thecomputing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent onthe performance and other requirements of the computing system.Accordingly, the logical operations described herein are referred tovariously as states, operations, structural devices, acts, or modules.These operations, structural devices, acts, and modules may beimplemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic,and any combination thereof.

Additionally, the operations described herein can be implemented as asequence of computer implemented acts or program modules running on acomputing system (e.g., receiving device 106 and/or system 114).

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example flowchart 300 that illustratesoperations directed to determining an application that is best suited toopen a file of a particular type, the file made accessible via a URL.

At operation 302, a request to access a file via a URL is received. Therequest can be received by an operating system of a device based onactivation of a link (e.g., shared via a communication).

At operation 304, the URL is analyzed to determine a pattern of the URL(e.g., a domain and/or a file type of the file). As described above, thedomain may identify a service associated with the storage of the file ona network.

At operation 306, it is determined whether one or more clientapplications are installed on the device and are registered to bematched with the pattern (e.g., to open files, of the file type, thatare accessed via the domain). If there are not any client applicationsinstalled on the device and registered to open the file (e.g., “No”),the process proceeds to operation 308 where a browser is invoked, by theoperating system for example, to display the contents of the file via aweb application accessible via the domain.

However, if there are one or more client applications that are installedon the device and that are registered to open the file (e.g., “Yes”),the process proceeds to operation 310 where a ranked list ofapplications authorized to open the file is obtained from a serviceassociated with the domain. Furthermore, capabilities associated withopening the file and/or interacting with contents of the file can beobtained along with the ranked list of applications.

At operation 312, an application that is on the ranked list ofapplications and that is best suited to open the file is determined(e.g., an application that possesses the capabilities obtained inoperation 310). For example, as described with respect to FIG. 2A, aclient application can determine whether it possesses the capabilitiesassociated with the contents of the file, or whether an alternativeapplication (e.g., a web application) possesses a capability that theclient application is missing. In another example, as described withrespect to FIG. 2B, a helper component can compare the associated withthe contents of the file to stored capabilities of each of theapplications, and determine which application is best suited to open thefile.

At operation 314, the application is caused (e.g., launched) to open thefile. In various examples, the contents of the file can be displayed toa user and interacted with by the user.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example flowchart 400 that illustratesoperations directed to obtaining a ranked list of applicationsauthorized to open a file and capabilities associated with contents ofthe file which are useable to determine an application that is bestsuited to open a file of a particular type (e.g., a way of implementingoperation 310 in FIG. 3), the file made accessible via a URL.

At operation 402, an operating system requests a ranked list ofapplications authorized to open a file of a particular type from aservice associated with a domain.

At operation 404, the operating system receives the ranked list ofapplications authorized to open the file of the particular type from theservice associated with the domain.

At operation 406, the operating system identifies and invokes a highestranked application on the list to open the file. The highest rankedapplication identified and invoked is an application available on thedevice.

At operation 408, the application (e.g., the highest ranked application)requests capabilities associated with contents of the file from theservice associated with the domain.

At operation 410, the application receives the capabilities associatedwith the contents of the file from the service associated with thedomain.

At operation 412, the application determines whether it is theapplication best suited to open the file. For example, if theapplication possesses capabilities that match the received capabilities,the application determines at operation 412 that it is the applicationbest suited to open the file (e.g., “Yes”) and the process proceeds tooperation 414 where the application opens the file and displays contentsof the file. In another example, if the application can offer morecapabilities than other applications available on the device, theapplication determines at operation 412 that it is the application bestsuited to open the file (e.g., “Yes”) and the process proceeds tooperation 414 where the application opens the file and displays contentsof the file. This determination can be made based on an awareness ofother experiences (e.g., other capabilities) of other applicationsavailable on the device.

If the application determines at operation 412 that it is not theapplication best suited to open the file (e.g., “No”), for example, dueto a missing capability, the process proceeds to operation 416 whereanother application is identified and invoked to open the file. In oneexample, the other application is a web application. In another example,the other application is the next highest ranked application on the listthat is available on the device. In yet another example, the otherapplication is an application installed on the device that is not on thelist.

In various embodiments, the process can further proceed to follow afirst path 418 that returns to operation 412 where the other applicationdetermines whether it is the application best suited to open the file.In alternative embodiments, the process can further proceed to follow asecond path 420 where the other application requests capabilitiesassociated with contents of the file from the service associated withthe domain. Thus, FIG. 4 illustrates operations that can be repeated bydifferent applications on the ranked list to determine which applicationis best suited to open the file.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example flowchart 500 that illustratesoperations directed to generating a URL and capabilities associated withcontents of a file and providing a ranked list of applicationsauthorized to open the file and the capabilities to a requesting device,so they can be used to determine an application that is best suited toopen the file.

At operation 502, an instruction to generate a uniform resource locatoris received from a device (e.g., sending device 102). The uniformresource locator enables a file to be shared via a link embedded in acommunication to be sent from the device to another device (e.g., thereceiving device 106).

At operation 504, the uniform resource locator is generated based on thereceived instruction.

At operation 506, the uniform resource locator is issued (e.g., sent) tothe device.

At operation 508, capabilities associated with opening the file orenabling interactions with contents of the file are generated based onthe contents of the file.

At operation 510, request(s) is/are received from the other device, therequest(s) for a ranked list of applications that are authorized to openthe file and for the capabilities.

At operation 512, the ranked list of applications that are authorized toopen the file and the capabilities are sent to the other device based onthe request. In this way, the other device can determine whichapplication, out of multiple available applications, is best suited toopen the file.

FIG. 6 includes a diagram 600 that illustrates an example environment inwhich a file is shared as an attachment and a best suitable applicationto open the file is determined. FIG. 6 includes elements illustrated inFIG. 1. However, FIG. 6 does not rely upon a service provider to accessa file and determine the best suitable application to open the file.Rather, the sending device 102 in FIG. 6 generates a communication 602to which the file 112 is attached and transmits the communication 602 tothe receiving device 106 via network(s) 108. Upon receiving thecommunication 602, a capability module 604 on the receiving device 106is configured to scan the file to determine a particular type of thefile and one or more capabilities 606 associated with opening the fileor enabling interactions with contents of the file. Once thecapabilities 606 are determined, components of the receiving device(e.g., the operating system, a client application, a helper application,etc.) can determine which application (e.g., one of client applications122(1) through 122(N) or web application 214) is best suited to open thefile, in accordance with the techniques described above.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example flowchart 700 that illustratesoperations directed to determining a best suitable application to open afile that is attached to a communication. The operations may beperformed by the receiving device 106 illustrated in FIG. 6.

At operation 702, a communication with an attached file is received froma device.

At operation 704, the file is scanned to determine a particular type ofthe file and capabilities associated with opening the file or enablinginteractions with the file.

At operation 706, it is determined that multiple applications areavailable, to the device, to open files of the particular type.

At operation 708, an application that is best suited to open the file isdetermined.

At operation 710, the application is caused (e.g., launched) to open thefile. In various examples, the contents of the file can be displayed toa user and interacted with by the user.

FIG. 8 shows additional details of an example computer architecture 800for a computer or a device (e.g., the sending device 102, the receivingdevice 106, or a device of the system 114), capable of executing thetechniques described herein. Thus, the computer architecture 800illustrates an example architecture for a server computer, a mobilephone, a PDA, a smart phone, a desktop computer, a netbook computer, atablet computer, and/or a laptop computer.

The computer architecture 800 includes a central processing unit 602(“CPU”), a system memory 804, including a random access memory 806(“RAM”) and a read-only memory (“ROM”) 808, and a system bus 810 thatcouples the memory 804 to the CPU 802. A basic input/output systemcontaining the basic routines that help to transfer information betweenelements within the computer architecture 800, such as during startup,is stored in the ROM 808. The computer architecture 800 further includesa mass storage device 812 for storing an operating system 814 (e.g.,operating system 120) and one or more application programs 816 (e.g.,client applications 122(1) through 122(N) and a browser 126).

The mass storage device 812 is connected to the CPU 802 through a massstorage controller connected to the bus 810. The mass storage device 812and its associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storagefor the computer architecture 800. Although the description ofcomputer-readable media contained herein refers to a mass storagedevice, such as a solid-state drive, a hard disk or CD-ROM drive, itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readablemedia can be any available computer storage media or communication mediathat can be accessed by the computer architecture 800.

Communication media includes computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signalsuch as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes anydelivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that hasone or more of its characteristics changed or set in a manner so as toencode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer storage media mayinclude volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information suchas computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. For example, computer media includes, but is not limited to,RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid-state memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe computer architecture 800. For purposes of the claims, the phrase“computer storage medium,” “computer-readable storage medium” andvariations thereof, does not include waves, signals, and/or othertransitory and/or intangible communication media, per se.

According to various configurations, the computer architecture 800 mayoperate in a networked environment using logical connections to remotecomputers through the network 818. The computer architecture 800 mayconnect to the network 818 through a network interface unit 820connected to the bus 810. It should be appreciated that the networkinterface unit 820 also may be utilized to connect to other types ofnetworks and remote computer systems. The computer architecture 800 alsomay include an input/output controller 822 for receiving and processinginput from a number of other devices, including a keyboard, mouse, orelectronic stylus. Similarly, the input/output controller 822 mayprovide output to a display screen, a printer, or other type of outputdevice.

It should be appreciated that the software components described hereinmay, when loaded into the CPU 802 and executed, transform the CPU 802and the overall computer architecture 800 from a general-purposecomputing system into a special-purpose computing system customized tofacilitate the functionality presented herein. The CPU 802 may beconstructed from any number of transistors or other discrete circuitelements, which may individually or collectively assume any number ofstates. More specifically, the CPU 802 may operate as a finite-statemachine, in response to executable instructions contained within thesoftware modules disclosed herein. These computer-executableinstructions may transform the CPU 802 by specifying how the CPU 802transitions between states, thereby transforming the transistors orother discrete hardware elements constituting the CPU 802.

Encoding software modules to implement the techniques described hereinalso may transform the physical structure of the computer-readable mediapresented herein. The specific transformation of physical structure maydepend on various factors, in different implementations of thisdescription. Examples of such factors may include, but are not limitedto, the technology used to implement the computer-readable media,whether the computer-readable media is characterized as primary orsecondary storage, and the like. For example, if the computer-readablemedia is implemented as semiconductor-based memory, the softwaredisclosed herein may be encoded on the computer-readable media bytransforming the physical state of the semiconductor memory. Forexample, the software may transform the state of transistors,capacitors, or other discrete circuit elements constituting thesemiconductor memory. The software also may transform the physical stateof such components in order to store data thereupon.

As another example, the computer-readable media disclosed herein may beimplemented using magnetic or optical technology. In suchimplementations, the software presented herein may transform thephysical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software isencoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magneticcharacteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media.These transformations also may include altering the physical features orcharacteristics of particular locations within given optical media, tochange the optical characteristics of those locations. Othertransformations of physical media are possible without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoingexamples provided only to facilitate this discussion.

In light of the above, it should be appreciated that many types ofphysical transformations take place in the computer architecture 800 inorder to store and execute the software components presented herein. Italso should be appreciated that the computer architecture 800 mayinclude other types of computing devices, including hand-held computers,embedded computer systems, personal digital assistants, and other typesof computing devices known to those skilled in the art. It is alsocontemplated that the computer architecture 800 may not include all ofthe components shown in FIG. 8, may include other components that arenot explicitly shown in FIG. 8, or may utilize an architecturecompletely different than that shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative distributed computing environment 900.According to various implementations, the distributed computingenvironment 900 includes a computing environment 902 operating on, incommunication with, or as part of the network 904. The computingenvironment 902 can be associated with the system 114 of FIG. 1 and canbe operated to provide a service. The network 904 may be or may includethe network 818 and/or network(s) 108. The network 904 also can includevarious access networks. One or more client devices 906A-906N(hereinafter referred to collectively and/or generically as “clients906” and also referred to herein as computing devices) can communicatewith the computing environment 902 via the network 904 and/or otherconnections. In one illustrated configuration, the clients 906 include acomputing device 906A such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, orother computing device; a slate or tablet computing device (“tabletcomputing device”) 906B; a mobile computing device 906C such as a mobiletelephone, a smart phone, or other mobile computing device; a servercomputer 906D; and/or other devices 906N. It should be understood thatany number of clients 906 can communicate with the computing environment902. It should be understood that the illustrated clients 906 andcomputing architectures illustrated and described herein areillustrative and should not be construed as being limited in any way.Each client 906 can be used to collect input signals and share thembetween different clients.

In the illustrated configuration, the computing environment 902 includesapplication servers 908, data storage 910, and one or more networkinterfaces 912. According to various implementations, the functionalityof the application servers 908 can be provided by one or more servercomputers that are executing as part of, or in communication with, thenetwork 904. The application servers 908 can host various services,virtual machines, portals, and/or other resources. In the illustratedconfiguration, the application servers 908 host one or more virtualmachines 914 for hosting applications or other functionality. Accordingto various implementations, the virtual machines 914 host one or moreapplications and/or software modules for enabling the generation oflinks and/or capabilities for a file, as described above. It should beunderstood that this configuration is illustrative and should not beconstrued as being limiting in any way. The application servers 908 alsohost or provide access to one or more link pages or files, Web sites,and/or other information (“Web portals”) 916.

According to various implementations, the application servers 908 alsoinclude one or more mailbox services 918 and one or more messagingservices 920. The mailbox services 918 can include electronic mail(“email”) services. The mailbox services 918 also can include variouspersonal information management (“PIM”) and presence services including,but not limited to, calendar services, contact management services,collaboration services, and/or other services. The messaging services920 can include, but are not limited to, instant messaging services,chat services, forum services, and/or other communication services.

The application servers 908 also may include one or more socialnetworking services 922. The social networking services 922 can includevarious social networking services including, but not limited to,services for sharing or posting status updates, instant messages, links,photos, videos, and/or other information; services for commenting ordisplaying interest in articles, products, blogs, or other resources;and/or other services. In some configurations, the social networkingservices 922 are provided by or include the FACEBOOK social networkingservice, the LINKEDIN professional networking service, the MYSPACEsocial networking service, the FOURSQUARE geographic networking service,the YAMMER office colleague networking service, and the like. In otherconfigurations, the social networking services 922 are provided by otherservices, sites, and/or providers that may or may not be explicitlyknown as social networking providers. For example, some web sites allowusers to interact with one another via email, chat services, and/orother means during various activities and/or contexts such as readingpublished articles, commenting on goods or services, publishing,collaboration, gaming, and the like. Examples of such services include,but are not limited to, the WINDOWS LIVE service and the XBOX LIVEservice from Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Wash. Other services arepossible and are contemplated.

The social networking services 922 also can include commenting,blogging, and/or micro blogging services. Examples of such servicesinclude, but are not limited to, the YELP commenting service, the KUDZUreview service, the OFFICETALK enterprise micro blogging service, theTWITTER messaging service, the GOOGLE BUZZ service, and/or otherservices. It should be appreciated that the above lists of services arenot exhaustive and that numerous additional and/or alternative socialnetworking services 922 are not mentioned herein for the sake ofbrevity. As such, the above configurations are illustrative, and shouldnot be construed as being limited in any way. According to variousimplementations, the social networking services 922 may host one or moreapplications and/or software modules for providing the functionalitydescribed herein, such as enabling the generation of content frommultiple applications. For instance, any one of the application servers908 may communicate or facilitate the functionality and featuresdescribed herein. For instance, a social networking application, mailclient, messaging client or a browser running on a phone or any otherclient 906 may communicate with a networking service 922 and facilitatethe functionality, even in part, described above with respect to FIG. 9.Any device or service depicted herein can be used as a resource forsupplemental data, including email servers, storage servers, etc.

As shown in FIG. 9, the application servers 908 also can host otherservices, applications, portals, and/or other resources (“otherresources”) 924. The other resources 924 can include, but are notlimited to, document sharing, rendering or any other functionality. Theother resources 924 can also include a machine learning engine forprocessing and generating historical user activity data. It thus can beappreciated that the computing environment 902 can provide integrationof the concepts and technologies disclosed herein with various mailbox,messaging, social networking, and/or other services or resources.

As mentioned above, the computing environment 902 can include the datastorage 910. According to various implementations, the functionality ofthe data storage 910 is provided by one or more databases operating on,or in communication with, the network 904. The functionality of the datastorage 910 also can be provided by one or more server computersconfigured to host data for the computing environment 902. The datastorage 910 can include, host, or provide one or more real or virtualdatastores 926A-926N (hereinafter referred to collectively and/orgenerically as “datastores 926”). The datastores 926 are configured tohost data used or created by the application servers 908 and/or otherdata. The datastores 926 also can host or store web page documents, textprocessing documents, presentation documents, data structures,algorithms for execution by a recommendation engine, and/or other datautilized by any application program or another module. Aspects of thedatastores 926 may be associated with a service for storing files.

The computing environment 902 can communicate with, or be accessed by,the network interfaces 912. The network interfaces 912 can includevarious types of network hardware and software for supportingcommunications between two or more computing devices including, but notlimited to, the computing devices and the servers. It should beappreciated that the network interfaces 912 also may be utilized toconnect to other types of networks and/or computer systems.

It should be understood that the distributed computing environment 900described herein can provide any aspects of the software elementsdescribed herein with any number of virtual computing resources and/orother distributed computing functionality that can be configured toexecute any aspects of the software components disclosed herein.According to various implementations of the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein, the distributed computing environment 900 provides thesoftware functionality described herein as a service to the computingdevices. It should be understood that the computing devices can includereal or virtual machines including, but not limited to, servercomputers, web servers, personal computers, mobile computing devices,smart phones, and/or other devices. As such, various configurations ofthe concepts and technologies disclosed herein enable any deviceconfigured to access the distributed computing environment 900 toutilize the functionality described herein for providing the techniquesdisclosed herein, among other aspects.

In closing, although the various configurations have been described inlanguage specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, itis to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appendedrepresentations is not necessarily limited to the specific features oracts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

1. A method comprising: receiving, by an operating system of a device, arequest to access a resource via a uniform resource locator included ina communication; analyzing, by the operating system of the device, theuniform resource locator to determine a pattern of the uniform resourcelocator; determining that multiple applications, installed on thedevice, have previously registered to open resources that are associatedwith the pattern; obtaining, by the operating system of the device andfrom a network service associated with the uniform resource locator, aranked list of applications authorized to open the resource;identifying, by the operating system of the device and based on theranked list of applications, a highest ranked application of themultiple applications; invoking the highest ranked application to openthe resource; obtaining, by the highest ranked application and from thenetwork service associated with the uniform resource locator, one ormore capabilities associated with at least one of opening the resourceor enabling interactions with contents of the resource, the one or morecapabilities being generated based on the contents of the resource;determining whether the highest ranked application possesses the one ormore capabilities; and opening the resource based on the determiningwhether the highest ranked application possesses the one or morecapabilities.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whetherthe highest ranked application possesses the one or more capabilitiescomprises determining that the highest ranked application is missing acapability of the one or more capabilities, the method furthercomprising invoking an alternative application that possesses the one ormore capabilities, wherein the resource comprises a file that is openedby the alternative application.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thealternative application comprises a web application accessible via abrowser installed on the device.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein themissing capability is categorized as a required capability.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the highest rankedapplication possesses the one or more capabilities comprises determiningthat the highest ranked application possesses the one or morecapabilities, and wherein the resource is opened by the highest rankedapplication.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or morecapabilities are generated based on user input.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein the user input is provided in association with generation andtransmission of a link that comprises, or is associated with, theuniform resource locator.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein anapplication possesses a capability based on a feature being available orenabled for use.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern isindicative of at least one of a domain and a type of resource.
 10. Adevice comprising: one or more processing units; and a computer-readablemedium having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions to causethe one or more processing units to: analyze a uniform resource locatorto determine a pattern of the uniform resource locator; determine thatmultiple applications are available to open a resource that isassociated with the pattern; obtain, from a network service associatedwith the uniform resource locator, a ranked list of applications thatare authorized to open the resource and one or more capabilitiesassociated with at least one of opening the resource or enablinginteractions with contents of the resource, the one or more capabilitiesbeing generated based on the contents of the resource; and determine anapplication, of the multiple applications, that is on the ranked list ofapplications and that is suited to open the resource based on acomparison between capabilities possessed by the application and the oneor more capabilities; and cause the application to open the resource.11. The device of claim 10, wherein the application comprises a webapplication accessible via a browser installed on the device.
 12. Thedevice of claim 10, wherein the application comprises a clientapplication installed on the device.
 13. The device of claim 10, whereinthe computer-executable instructions further cause the one or moreprocessing units to: determine that a highest ranked application, of themultiple applications, that is on the ranked list of applications ismissing a capability of the one or more capabilities; and identify,based on the ranked list of applications, the application as a nexthighest ranked application, of the multiple applications, that is on theranked list of applications.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions further cause the one or moreprocessing units to: cache, in association with the uniform resourcelocator at a first time, data indicating that the highest rankedapplication is missing the capability; determine, at a second time afterthe first time, that the resource associated with the uniform resourcelocator is to be accessed; access the cache to determine that thehighest ranked application was previously missing the capability;determine that an update to the highest ranked application has beeninstalled on the device between the first time and the second time, theupdate providing the capability that was previously missing; and causethe highest ranked application to open the resource based at least inpart on the determining that the update to the highest rankedapplication has been installed on the device between the first time andthe second time.
 15. The device of claim 13, wherein the missingcapability is categorized as a required capability, and wherein therequired capability is categorized based on user input provided inassociation with generation and transmission of a link that comprises,or is associated with, the uniform resource locator.
 16. The device ofclaim 10, wherein an application has a capability based on a featurebeing available or enabled for use.
 17. The device of claim 10, whereinthe determining the application that is on the ranked list ofapplications and that is suited to open the resource comprises accessinga registry that stores capabilities possessed by each of the multipleapplications, and identifying the application based on a number ofmatches between the capabilities possessed by the application and theone or more capabilities.
 18. A device comprising: one or moreprocessing units; and a computer-readable medium having encoded thereoncomputer-executable instructions to cause the one or more processingunits to: scan a file received as an attachment to a communication todetermine a particular type of the file and one or more capabilitiesassociated with at least one of opening the file or enablinginteractions with contents of the file; determine that multipleapplications are available to the device to open files that are of theparticular type; and determine an application, of the multipleapplications, that is suited to open the file based on a comparisonbetween capabilities possessed by the application and the one or morecapabilities; and cause the application to open the file.
 19. The deviceof claim 18, wherein an application has a capability based on a featurebeing available or enabled for use.
 20. The device of claim 18, whereinthe determining the application that is suited to open the filecomprises accessing a registry that stores capabilities possessed byeach of the multiple applications, and identifying the application basedon a number of matches between the capabilities possessed by theapplication and the one or more capabilities.